The Home of Golf is celebrating a unique double this morning after Paul Lawrie and Martin Laird became the first Scots to win on both sides of the Atlantic on the same weekend.
First Lawrie captured the Open de Andalucia de Golf by Turkish Airlines – his first win in nine years – with a one stroke victory at Parador de Málaga Golf and then Laird followed suit by becoming the first Brit to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard at Bay Hill, with Justin Rose also enjoying a good weekend as the Masters preparations moved up a gear by taking a share of third place.
It’s the first time that two Scots have won on golf’s two major tours on the same day, although Ken Brown and Sandy Lyle came close in 1987 when Brown won the Southern Open on the US PGA Tour and the following week Lyle won the German Masters on The European Tour.
Laird, who started the year in 50th place in the Official World Golf Ranking, moved up to career high of 21st, a climb of 19 places on the previous week, while Rose moved up three places to 26th.
Lawrie, the 1999 Open Champion, advanced to 150th from 272nd with a victory that also secured his place in the Volvo World Match Play Championship at Finca Cortesin GC, Casares, Andalucia, in May. With the top two in the Open de Andalucia de Golf by Turkish Airlines qualifying for the match play, second placed Johan Edfors also booked his return ticket to Andalucia.
The Scottish weekend of joy follows the recent launch of two major initiatives to nurture talent through Team Scottish Hydro and Scottish Golf Support Limited and comes on the back of Sandy Lyle’s victory two weeks ago on the European Senior Tour when he ended a 19 year wait for a title by winning the ISPS Handa Senior World Championship presented by Mission Hills China.
